East Van Cross | A many decades old cross motif that incorporates the all-caps words EAST (vertically) and VAN (horizontally) with the letter “A” intersecting. Once territorially scribbled and sprayed as prideful, working class graffiti, the symbol has since been co-opted and commercialized by Rennifying real estate marketers and T-shirt hawkers. And yet it persists, somehow unblemished. It was most famously employed by local artist Ken Lum, who conceived the permanent “Monument for East Vancouver” structure at Clark Drive and East 6th Avenue in 2010 (pictured above).

Usage: “My uncle rocked a hand-drawn East Van Cross on his t-shirt back in 1972.”